Interesting trends in the Food and Beverage Industry

This week, we take a look at some emerging trends that have begun affecting the Food and Beverage industry. Ranging from packaging to promotion, these are some of the most interesting trends in the industry today.

1. Targeting Millennials:While Millennials may seem like a broad and amorphous target, numerous studies show there are some commonalities. Millennials like fresh, less processed foods, as demonstrated by their preference for "fast casual restaurants that offer freshly prepared foods, and shopping the perimeter of grocery stores where fresh and non-packaged foods can be found".

2. Smaller Packages are a Big Trend in Packaging:With one- or two-person households representing 61% of all U.S. households, packages sized to serve one or two people have become a big trend in packaging. Such formats include single-serve packaging, meals for two, multi-packs of individual portions, and resealable packaging. The rise in smaller-footprint stores is also influencing this trend.

3. Packaging for Convenience:Convenience is a major selling point for food and beverage packaging. Features such as ease of opening, resealability, portability, lighter weight, and no-mess dispensing are packaging benefits that influence consumers' purchasing decisions positively.

4. See-Thru Packaging Can Boost Sales:More and more marketers are putting their products in packages that are see-thru or have see-thru windows. Transparency in packaging taps into consumer desire for transparency about how food and beverages are produced, both figuratively and literally. Companies that are transparent about their ingredients, sourcing, and business practices are reaping the benefits in consumer goodwill and trust.

5. Eco-Friendly Packaging Growing: In the past few years, single-serve bottled water has come under attack by environmentalists as epitomizing the wasteful nature of modern society. As a result, some marketers of bottled water have stepped up their introductions of more sustainable packaging. Likewise, Packaged Facts believes that improved recyclability and sustainability will become ever more important to the success of the single-cup brew market—if not a cost of entry—as this business matures. In the past two years, several American and Canadian marketers have introduced more environmentally friendly designs for use in K-Cup brewers

5 Surprising facts about Manufacturing

Last week we looked at some of the impact that the Manufacturing industry had on the US economy, this week we look at some additional facts that you may not have considered. American manufacturing has long been the backbone of US prosperity, but with the rise in automation and advances in efficiency and practices, some may be wondering if it still deserves that distinction. In this week's blog we look at 5 surprising facts about the state of manufacturing.

1.The manufacturing industry employs more than 12.3 million Americans, accounting for about 9% of the total workforce. Since the end of the Great Recession, manufacturers have hired more than 800,000 workers. There are 7.7 million and 4.6 million workers in durable and nondurable goods manufacturing, respectively. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

2. Manufacturers have become more competitive globally over the past two decades. Overall the manufacturing industry has seen a revolution inefficiency. Output per hour for all workers in the manufacturing sector has increased by more than 2.5 times since 1987. In contrast, productivity is roughly 1.7 times greater for all nonfarm businesses. Note that durable goods manufacturers have seen even greater growth, almost tripling its labor productivity over that time frame.

3. Over the past 25 years, U.S.-manufactured goods exports have quadrupled. In 1990, for example, U.S. manufacturers exported $329.5 billion in goods. By 2000, that number had more than doubled to $708.0 billion. In 2014, it reached an all-time high, for the fifth consecutive year, of $1.403 trillion, despite slowing global growth. With that said, a number of economic headwinds have dampened export demand since then, with U.S.-manufactured goods exports down 6.1 percent in 2015 to $1.317 trillion. (Source: National Association of Manufacturers)

4. For every $1 spent in manufacturing, $1.81 is added to the US economy. This is the greatest multiplier effect of any economic sector. Additionally, for every worker in manufacturing, another four are hired elsewhere. (NAM calculations using economic impact modeling)

5. The cost of federal regulations fall disproportionately on manufacturers, particularly those that are smaller.Manufacturers pay $19,564 per employee on average to comply with federal regulations, or nearly double the $9,991 per employee costs borne by all firms as a whole. In addition, small manufacturers with less than 50 employees spend 2.5 times the amount of large manufacturers. Environmental regulations account for 90 percent of the difference in compliance costs between manufacturers and the average firm.(Source: Crain and Crain (2014))

U.S. Manufacturing is the world's 3rd largest economy on the planet.

According to the Manufacturing Institute, in the 20 years ending in 2012, manufacturing output increased more than 83 percent. This feat is even more impressive when one considers that the United states suffered not one but three major recessions including the "Great Recession" which lasted more than six years and a decline in US GDP of 5.1%.

The vast majority of manufacturing companies in the United States are actually very small.

In 2014, there were 251,901 firms in the manufacturing sector, with all but 3,749 firms considered to be small (i.e., having fewer than 500 employees). In fact, three-quarters of these firms have fewer than 20 employees. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses)

The Internet of Things

This week, we take a look at the Internet of Things, a buzz-y phrase that is getting more and more attention as the nation and the world move towards a truly digital future.

Let’s talk about the future.

The most popular definition of the Internet of Things (IoT) is that it is a network of connected devices that operate with a binary connection (on/off) to the Internet. This can include a variety of “things” from cell phones and wearables to the components that comprise them. It can also include other less obvious “things” like virtual items, information or even people. But why should you or your company be thinking about the Internet of Things?

Technology research company Gartner recently estimated that by 2020 there will be more than 26 billion devices connected to the Internet. Some analysts even suspect that number to be much closer to 100 billion devices or roughly 12 internet-capable devices per person in just a couple of years. Essentially anything that can be connected to the Internet will be connected very soon. Companies that are looking to improve customer satisfaction, operational efficiencies, and product or service quality should certainly be looking at IoT as a way to address them.

Unfortunately, many industries are currently struggling to find a point of access as processing such large amounts of raw data and attempting to create systems that rely upon this connectivity remains one of the most difficult barriers to overcome. Despite these growing pains, I can assure you that it is no longer a question of if but more a question of when large companies begin to integrate IoT into their business models.

One of the first industries to adopt IoT on a large scale has been in manufacturing. As many consumers look to curb capital expenses and replace them with operational expenditures, the IoT allows for a more seamless and efficient source of revenue for many businesses. IoT devices also have the benefit of improving the end-user experience which in turn increases customer loyalty and driving sales.

In a broader sense, we may begin to see how the IoT might become useful on different scales. Applications and devices could be used on scales large enough to manage traffic or parking. Smaller applications might be to have your refrigerator monitor what foods you have, their expiration dates or the ability to compile shopping lists or recipes based on that information. Although still very early in its current use and adoption, the Internet of Things will most certainly prove itself to be a game changer in ways that aren’t immediately clear.

As more consumers begin to move towards cutting capital spending and increasing operational expenditures, businesses may find that early adoption can lead directly to a more seamless and efficient source of revenue. Although it will still take some time to fully realize the potential of IoT, companies that figure out how to collect, process and analyze the vast amounts of information may find themselves at the vanguard of their industry.

Any business can implement IoT, but scale and investment are key to success. Cisco recently conducted a study about the Internet of Things where the discovered that about 70% of IoT campaigns ultimately fail. Why? The top contributing factors from the study revealed that internal expertise, quality of data, protracted implementation, and inconsistent implementation to be among the most challenging obstacles to overcome. The most damning, however was too much emphasis on the technology and not enough on the human element.

When trying to define metrics to gauge success, the study went on to suggest that the alacrity with which IoT is implemented and the company’s engagement consistency/commitment were the most important to track. Businesses should be looking at the Internet of Things like they would any traditional implementation. This means competent teams, technology and proper accounting (time and money) all contribute to the success of an IoT rollout.

In this week's blog, we look at some features we have added in previous versions that may help you to be a more efficient user of AllOrders.

Tips and Tricks for Using All Orders

One of the great things about All Orders is just how robust a tool it is and the flexibility it gives users looking to make their processes more efficient. With all of these features and functions, however, it can create situations where additional efficiencies can be overlooked. This week, we look at a few tips and tricks that can sometimes be overlooked.

·Using the Scan Box - You do not need a scanner to use the scan box. Simulate a scan by pressing the tab key. You can enter in the Item Name, UPC, Manf. Part #., Vendor Part #, Vendor UPC, or Descriptions.

·Auto Email Shipping Forms - Shipping forms can be setup to be automatically emailed once a Ship Doc is marked as shipped. Emailing directly from All Orders has to be turned on for this feature to work.

·Editing Multiple Orders - Typically only one single document for any document type can be open at a time. Users needing the ability to open more than one order or quote at a time can turn on the "Allow Multiple SOs/Quotes to be open" in the Sales Order Preferences.

·Multiple Copies of All Orders - You can open multiple All Orders windows. Simply Click the All Orders Icon to open another copy, confirm that you want to open another copy, and use the same username and password log in.

·Setting up Default Printers - Typically All Orders does not tell Windows which printer to use when sending documents to the printer. Use the "Apply default printer" in the Report Preferences to have All Orders dictate which printer to use. By doing this All Orders will make sure the report is sent to the default printer but allows users to set the default printer per report and override the default printer.

·List Hack - Sort multiple list columns by clicking the initial column to sort by and holding down Shift key while clicking additional columns to add to the sort.

·

List Hack - Use powerful filters to find what you are looking for. Using the * for fuzzy matching, using the Greater than > and <less than characters to help filter the numeric columns.

·Batch Processing - Various commands can be done in batch from the list by using the filters and the check boxes to focus on the rows in the list that processing needs to get done on. Orders can be easily closed in batch directly from the Sales Order List, Ship Docs can be marked as Shipped and Recorded in Quickbooks, Work Orders can be changed to a status of Finished, they can by Picked and Allocated, Drilled Down, and Flattened in a batch.

As more and more companies march towards in-store and online sales integration, it has become clear that there's more than just shipping costs digging into profits.

Why You Should Update Your Inventory Process

Modernizing your inventory management process could be just the change your business needs to stay successful.

There can be no doubt that as a whole, retail operations have become vastly more complicated within just the past decade. As more and more businesses and companies look to reconcile in-person (in-store) transactions with online sales, the importance of managing that business with an efficient inventory management tool becomes all the more apparent. Poor or inadequate inventory management can open the door to production and order delays, unhappy customers and unexpected expenditures, so it is not difficult to understand the importance of getting it “right”.

The problem seems to stem from the slow adoption of processes and technologies that have been proven to save time and money for businesses in all sectors. For example, according to a recent study 43% of small businesses operating in the United States do not track their inventory or do so through a manual process. In the same study, it was also discovered that 55% of those same small businesses don’t currently track their assets or do so manually. This has resulted in overstocks, out-of-stocks and returns costing the U.S economy more than $1.75 trillion dollars in lost revenue annually, a number that has been steadily increasing. In fact, if you sell a product within the U.S., on average it is costing you $1.43 in inventory costs for every dollar made in sales.

To the business planner looking to forecast costs and sales, numbers like these must seem especially egregious. With nearly $14 billion in industrial assets changing hands and an increase of 15% in eCommerce over the same period last year, many companies may find themselves wondering why their gross margins may not be experiencing the same growth. For some, increasing the number of skus to meet long-tail customer demands has been the solution, but a much more efficient solution is to integrate better processes that remove contributing factors like human error from the equation.

This may be changing, however. As more and more companies look to shore up holes in their budgets, more and more are looking towards taming their inventory as one of the more rewarding opportunities. According to a study by Motorola, 66% of warehouse IT and operations decision makers plan to expand technology investments by 2018, citing automation efficiency and worker productivity as the driving forces behind those decisions.

The benefits of improving tracking and inventory management are numerous, but there are some considerations for businesses still on the fence as to whether to embrace digital solutions (such as All Orders by NumberCruncher) or not. One key consideration that may not be so obvious is that whether you like it or not, customer satisfaction is absolutely an external factor that can affect your ability to forecast inventory or production. Agitating your hard-won customers with low or out of stock items will almost certainly lead your customers to question if their patronage is worth the hassle to get the product and just as a recall can damage a business’ reputation, failure to recognize the value and importance of managing your inventory is a nightmare waiting to happen.

Additionally, for businesses that operate with regulatory or government oversight, proper inventory management can not only improve efficiencies within your business, it can also help to keep your customers safe. In a study by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers observed that the use of barcode tracking led to a reduction of administrative errors by 41.4% at an academic medical center. In other industries, this might translate into an avoided recall or unexpected costly expenditures so there are other benefits a company can expect to receive by integrating and updating their inventory processes.

If your company is one of the estimated 69% of small to medium-sized businesses expecting revenue growth this fiscal year, it certainly seems worth investing the time and resources to implement an efficient inventory control strategy.

All Orders 6.2.16

What's New

Starting with release 6.2.16, All Orders has added features that will enable users to easily export/import and edit bulk information within the software.

This is was one of the most requested features from our users and was voted on at the "Creative Feature Session" at this year's CRUNCHTREAT.

In addition we have enhanced our tools for update BOMs in bulk, added multi line custom fields and more. Read on for the details!

Export/Import

You will notice on various lists and entity editing screens throughout the system a new Excel Export button. Some of the more popular ares it is available in include the item, customer, vendor and price level lists. This button can be used to export the data you need into the same format as our standard Excel import templates. By doing this we eliminate the need for exporting data from reports and then copying and pasting into our standard import template. Now you can export, make the changes you need and then import all without having to copy and paste a thing!

Bulk Updating BOMs

We've added a new and enhanced screen that will allow users to bulk edit bill of materials (BOMs). Simply go to the Production menu and click on the Bulk Update BOMs button.From here users can easily add new components in bulk, remove components in bulk or replace existing components in bulk. Select the components and the assemblies and click Process to quickly and efficiently get all your BOMs in order!

Multi Line Custom Fields

Ever wanted to add a new custom field to have notes, comments, or store any other type of data that needs to have multiple lines? Now you can! When managing custom fields and adding or modifying a Text type of field a Lines box will appear where a number of lines can be entered for how many lines should be visible for that custom field. Once a number larger than 1 is entered it automatically turns the custom field into a multi line that can store as many lines as needed and the number entered will be how many lines are immediately visible on the custom field entry screen before the user needs to scroll down.

Customer/Vendor Notes

Now users can view notes and comments for customers and/or vendors while saving order documents.

Edit Custom Fields on read only Ship Docs

Now users can create and edit custom fields on shipping documents even after the document has been marked as shipped or invoiced which would have rendered the fields as read only in the past.

Additional Features

Importing sales order from QB picks up custom fields as well.

Setting for showing customer/vendor notes when saving order documents.

Cost fields on the BOM screen made wider.

Download button on the attachments screen for downloading web based attachments locally.

New setting to leave inactive items off new order being created by duplicating existing orders.

We're always working to improve All Orders. If there is a feature you would like to see in a future release, please take a look at feature release page (link) to vote on other user-submitted suggestions or to submit your own.

FREE All Orders Training Webinars Start this Thursday, April 6th!

Starting on Thursday, April 6th at 3pm (est) and continuing every week, NumberCruncher.com's trainer, Veronica, will be hosting a 60 minute All Orders Training Q & A where current users can ask her any questions they may have on the software, as well as, learn some nifty tricks & tips too utilize All Orders to the fullest!

Hey Cruncher's! Hope everyone's 2017 is starting off well! Here at Numbercruncher, we've been busy between our First Client Retreat, that just passed & getting our newest product, Order Time, ready for launch!

Our First Client Retreat was a HUGE success & everyone in attendance had a great time, learning everything there is too know about All Orders & networking with fellow Numbercruncher Customers. If you weren't able to attend this year, make sure you keep your eyes out for information on next years Client Retreat, happening in February 2018!

All Orders Update 6.2.14

Numbercruncher has released update version 6.2.14 for All Orders. Since the last major update we pushed out was 6.2.10, 6.2.14 covers all the release notes from the past couple minor updates (6.2.11, 6.2.12 & 6.2.13). Please find all the release notes for 6.2.14 below. To update, please click HERE or visit Numbercruncher.com --> Support --> Software Updates --> All Orders Version 6.2.14

- Added All Orders Features:

* New Preference to allow Item Costs per Vendor to be entered in the Purchased as Measure Cost

* View Line #'s on Documents

* Currency & Exchange rate columns are now available on all Document Lists

* Checkbox on Location to Include/Exclude their Quantities from the main Item List

* Preference to ignore QuickBooks Errors stating that a User has updated their information in QuickBooks

If you need help installing the update, please visit the Update Setup Instructions Page, located on the All Orders Version 6 Update Page (View directions on accessing the update page, above) or contact Support to schedule an update appointment

All Orders Weekly Webinars

After the success of our Client Retreat, Numbercruncher.com has decided to launch a FREE Weekly Webinar Program with our In-House Trainer, Veronica! Each week will feature a different in-depth, hour-long LIVE training demo conducted via teamviewer software. These webinars are currently for existing Numbercruncher Clients and are limited to five participants each week, however we have plans to expand the number of weekly participants & open the webinars up to non-Numbercruncher customers. Participants will be required to preregister for the event, no later than 24 hours before the webinar starts. More details on the Webinars & Registration process will be announced in the coming weeks, but if you are interested in more information or would like to request a topic to be covered, please email jgoldberg@numbercruncher.com

The best way to begin this blog topic is to discuss what on earth are we talking about?

Accrual Basis is a bookkeeping method in which you regard income or expenses as occurring at the time you ship a product, render a service or receive a purchase. In Accrual accounting, the time when you enter a transaction and the time when you actually pay or receive cash, may be two separate events. An Accrual-Basis report shows income regardless of whether your customers have paid their invoices and expenses, regardless of whether you have paid all your bills

Cash Basis is a bookkeeper method in which you regard income or expenses as occurring at the time you actually receive a payment of pay a bill. A Cash-Basis report shows income income, only if you have received cash and expenses. If you have not received a payment for an invoice, a Cash-Basis report does not include the income

What's the difference? The Cash accounting method is very straightforward: When cash comes in the door, we record it as revenue & as cash goes out the door, we record it as an expense. The Accrual accounting method is a bit more complicated. With the Accrual method, you need to record revenue when you earn it. For example, you ship a customer on net 30 terms, Using the Accrual method, revenue would be recorded when the product ship, whereas in the Cash method, revenue is recorded when the customer pays after the 30 days.

Likewise, when you purchase an inventory item, your Bill, Check or Credit Card charge will debit the item's Inventory Asset account and credit your Accounts Payable, Bank or Credit Card account. It is not debited to an expense account because (a) it is an asset that you can sell for future benefits & (b) you record the expense to match the income. When you ultimately sell the inventory, QuickBooks will record Revenue and Cost of Good Sold.

So if you are using the Cash Method, you would expect there to be no Accounts Receivable, right? That is not always the case, especially if you have Inventory. Recall that when you create an invoice, QuickBooks records both the Revenue and Cost of Good Sold, but since you are on the Cash Method, Revenue is not shown your Profit & Loss report until you receive the check from your customer. But it would seem right to not record the Revenue, yet still record Cost of Goods Sold, so QuickBooks will temporarily "plug" that amount into your Accounts Receivable. It would make a lot more sense to plug that back into Inventory Asset, but QuickBooks is QuickBooks.

Here are some helpful hints:

The best way to track your Inventory Purchases is to run the Inventory Valuation Summary/Detail reports for all dates:

- Accrual-Basis reports will count Sales as of the Inventory Date & Count Expenses as of the date the goods or services were received

- Cash-Basis reports will provide the reader with a history of cash inflow & outflow

- Under Cash method, Income is reported in the year it is received & expenses are generally deducted in the year they are paid

QuickBooks automatically sets itself to the Accrual Method of accounting because the Generally Accepted Account Principles (GAAP) basis requires the Accrual Method. But since the GAAP is what's generally accepted & not what's required, you are able to customize your QuickBooks to record in the Cash Basis instead.

Although you may have your preferences set to Cash-Basis reporting, some reports will automatically default to an Accrual Basis. Since Accrual Basis is the more common of the two types of accounting method, QuickBooks defaulted the Profit & Loss Report to this method. If you would like to be able to run your Profit & Loss Report without having to customize it each time, you can setup and save a customized report

- In QuickBooks Online:

- Click on Reports to open the Report List page and select the Report you'd like to view

- At the top, click the Customization button

- In the new window that opens, go to the General section and then note which Accounting Method is selected

- Click to select a new Account Method

- Make any other necessary customizations and click Run Report

Your Profit & Loss Report shows the Sales of Product Income accounts and the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) accounts that are associated with your inventory-enabled Product/Service Item. COGS is an account that reflects the cost of materials and goods held in inventory and then sold. When you sell an item from your inventory, COGS increases by the amount you paid for that item when you purchased it. The difference between the income from the sale & the increase in COGS is the Gross Profit of the sale of that item